Dublin Travel Forum

I am flying from Oregon to London, arriving at 4:15 pm. I am trying to book a London to Dublin ticket. Is it cutting it too close to get a 5:50pm flight? Or should I suck up the long layover to be safe and book the 7:45pm flight?

This is in September 08, maybe I should hold out in case new flight times are added?

What's the first thing we should do in Dublin if we arrive at 9pm?

Many thanks!

I see that you have posted several questions during your time here but it seems that it's not your habit to reply to those who answered. Would be nice if you did that once in a while.

I understand that you will buy two separate tickets so that's an off-line connection. That means you will have to pass through immigration, pick up your luggage, pass through customs and most then probably change terminals. (Which London airport by the way??) There you will have to check-in again keeping in mind the closure time of the check-in desk of that particular airline.

If the inbound flight has no delay and everything goes smoothly and fast you will probably just make it to the 19:45 flight.

Definitely take the later flight, and that might even be pushing it. Last summer my husband and I tried something similar but allowed 6 hours in between our two flights and still didn't make it. Our flight out of the US was delayed for about 4 hours, then after customs, they lost our luggage. By the time we got the other airport, we had missed our flight and they (easyjet) did not reimburse or credit us for the lost flight. So, I would allow a lot more time in between, especially if you have to transfer to a different airport. Hope that helps!

I assume that you are looking at the Northwest Airlines flight that arrives at Heathrow at 4:15 p.m. - this is the sort of information that would be good to share with us, since - as Noel says - we have no idea which airport you are planning on using (different airports have different transit times), nor whether you were planning on leaving from the same airport to Dublin (many people here are not aware of how many airports there are that service London).

Why are you wanting to take this flight, then immediately go to Dublin? You literally will fly over Dublin on the way to London, adding hours to your trip. Is it that you have miles on Northwest? I see that Northwest does not fly to Dublin, but its partner Delta does - Portland to Atlanta to Dublin. I am not positive on how the SkyTeam alliance does things, but on the Oneworld Alliance, you can redeem travel on any of the partners (within limits).

I don't think we have enough information yet to give you a good answer...

Bill

If so, have you thought about using those miles with a partner of Northwest, like

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

Sorry for my lack of response and information. True, it is missing information for informed advice. I was trying to make it as concise as possible rather than giving too much info and scare people away from wanting to read it all.

We were able to use our Alaska Partner frequent fliers miles into Healthrow. All direct flights from PDX to DUB were booked and we weren't able to find what we needed. However, flights from PDX to London I was able to get using FF miles. Now I just need to buy a ticket for 2 people from Heathrow to Dublin.

I would still love to know if anyone has advice about what to do in Dublin if we arrive at 9pm. We are renting a car, and will be touring Ireland for 2 weeks by ourselves (married couple in 30's). We most likely will spend 2 nights in Dublin on the front end and one night on the back end. We really just want to wing it, fall in love with a little town and stay there for the night, so I don't want to plan too much. But since we will be arriving so late, think I will reserve the first night. Any advice of what to do or where to stay that night would be great!

Thanks

I would normally think that arranging your first night's stay would be a great idea, since you would have just completed a nearly 20 hour marathon journey (including the detour to London), and wouldn't be able to get out of the airport until 10 p.m. or so...I wouldn't think that you would have any desire to do anything else but go straight to a hotel and crash.

However, I am a bit concerned about the connection in London. If you miss it, you may be stuck paying for a hotel room you can't use.

How about this? Contact a travel agent who is experienced with international ticketing and say this: "I have a flight from PDX to LHR paid for by miles. Can you arrange a flight from LHR to DUB that is on a carrier that has intercarrier luggage services, so that I can check my luggage through from Portland to Dublin?" This will sharply reduce the possibility - as Noel pointed out - that by having to pick up and recheck your luggage, that you will miss a tight connection.

It looks like from your times that you are thinking of taking BMI to Dublin. I don't know BMI well (I think I've been on it once, and it was a blur) - can the agent arrange the ticketing so that the luggage will be transferred to BMI automagically? It would be well worth it...or conversely, well worth it to pay a few extra dollars (if that's all it is) to take an airline which simplifies this process.

This sort of question I throw over to my travel agent. Yes, she charges me $40/ticket commission...but it is $40 well spent to know that I am not going to be surprised on the other end...with her access to the Sabre system and other resources, she is in a much better position than most of us to determine these things.

Alternatively, you could always just spend the night in London and go out the next morning, when it wouldn't matter what airline you take. Getting into London at 4:15 p.m. gives you time to get to a hotel, walk around town some, have dinner, and have an early night after your long flight - and you don't take the risk of your plans going to pot because your flight was an hour late coming into Heathrow (as can VERY easily happen on such a long flight).

Bill

Not all is lost if you miss the 19:45 flight. Aer Lingus has several later flights for $87 each from LHR to DUB. Get your rental car and go to your hotel. It will be late enough when you get done. LHR is really a "ZOO". I try to avoid if possible. Dublin Airport is easy..........Jon

Jon, you are so right - London Heathrow is a zoo indeed. I have travelled from Australia to Dublin via Heathrow and even with my luggage checked through from Australia to Dublin, I still missed my connection at LHR because the flight from Australia was made to wait on the tarmac at LHR till there was a Gate free to let us off. Anything can happen there believe me, so you need all the time in the world between flights especially if you have to retrieve your luggage, go through Customs and recheck it again. Also, you will probably find that if you fly into LHR and your flight to Dublin goes out of LHR, you will still have to transfer between terminals which is a long, long walk. Take the advice of those who have had the experience. If it were me I would check my luggage through from Oregon to Dublin and if this was not possible I would stay in London overnight and head off to Dublin the next day. Also be warned that even though Dublin Airport is easy to negotiate, taking delivery of rental cars in Dublin can be time consuming depending on which rental campany you are using. For instance if you hire from Hertz, you will have to be transported by shuttle a short distance from the airport and more often than not, they don't have the car ready for you and you have no option but to wait. I think we used Alamo (hope I've got that right) one time and it was a bit better. In any event, you may well land in Dublin at about 9pm, but by the time you get your luggage, go through customs and immigration and pick up your hire car, you will be doing well to get out of the airport in under 90 minutes if you're lucky.

Wow. It sounds like I should seriously reconsider and just stay the night in London. I like the idea of trying to get the luggage checked all the way through to Dublin, I will look into that too if I end up flying the same night.
Since we are renting a car, I really don't like the idea of shuttling around at night after such long flights. Lots of options to weigh.

Thanks again!

First thing you need to do when you get settled in Dublin, is go grab a pint at M.J. O'Neil's. Its right next to the Ulster Bank, maybe a block from Trinity University. Its away from the Temple Bar area a little bit and has much more of a local feeling.

I Dont think you will be able to fy Oregon - Dublin direct for a couple of years but Aer Lingus fly San Francisco - Dublin direct. the Aer Lingus website is www.aerlingus.com. San Fran - Dublin is about 10 hours.